How deep is Kenneth Branagh‘s love for The Bee Gees? Apparently pretty deep, because he has been hired to direct a Bee Gees biopic of the acclaimed band for Paramount Pictures. According to a new report, “the movie will center on the life and times of the genre-spanning band, following the humble beginnings of brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb into their journey to pop superstardom.”
Variety reports that the Bee Gees biopic is set to be directed by none other than Thor and Murder on the Orient Express director Kenneth Branagh. The film tracks the evolution of the band starting with their formation in the late 1950s and as they soon became global megastars. The Bee Gees wrote more than 1,000 songs over the course of their nearly 50 year career, including 20 number one hits. Some of those hits include “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep is Your Love,” “I Started a Joke,” “You Should Be Dancin’,” and “Jive Talkin’.”
The Bee Gees were just the subject of an HBO documentary from director Frank Marshall called The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, which debuted in December of last year. Barry Gibb, the only surviving brother of that original trio, was interviewed for that documentary, and he will serve as a producer on this biopic. Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King is producing with his GK Films banner, and Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Entertainment is on board as well. A little over a decade ago, there was a rumor going around that Spielberg himself might even direct this project. That obviously didn’t pan out, but it seems that he’s a fan of the group (or at least sees the potential in a biopic, anyway).
Ben Elton, whose previous credits include Mr. Bean, Blackadder, and Branagh’s 2018 film that absolutely zero people saw called All is True, is writing the script.
Branagh’s directing career is not what you might expect. He came bursting out of the gate with Henry V in 1989, which earned him great acclaim, and since then he’s tackled Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a remake of Sleuth, Marvel Studios’ Thor, the atrocious Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the relatively early Disney live-action remake of Cinderella in 2015, a remake of Murder on the Orient Express, and the Disney+ travesty Artemis Fowl. The guy is truly all over the place, so I guess it makes a weird kind of sense that he would take another hard left turn and direct a Bee Gees movie.
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